sounds like your not doing a good deep clean of the groves. If the record has not been played it can look new but there will be a build up of gunk, mold, etc in the grove that's what your seeing when you play it, its the stylus cleaning the grove not ideal. you need to do a multy step clean, dirty wet- clean wet- clean rinse then dry. I had some old first pressings that had never been played they took multiple passes in that system to get clean. when you do a simple clean all your doing is loosening up the deep seated gunk. ideally a sonic cleaner is best added in that system.
Wet Cleaning records makes things worse?
Hi guys,
I've been working my way through the record collection I inherited from my Dad - lots of fun and the records are pristine. I usually only need to dust them with a brush and then lightly wipe them off with a microfibre to get the remnants and this seems to work well for 19 out of 20 records.
However, when I come across a record that is particularly dusty I'll wipe it down with Pfan-Stat on a microfibre cloth. It looks clean but when i play it, a little dust ball will build up on the needle rather quickly. Then i need to clean the needle after each song. It seems to only happen when I clean with Pfan-Stat.
Am I doing something wrong? Is the Pfan-Stat just loosening the dust and i need to fully remove it some other way? Is there an inexpensive way to deep clean the records even though they 'look' clean? Would there be a benefit to this?
Thanks!!!
I've been working my way through the record collection I inherited from my Dad - lots of fun and the records are pristine. I usually only need to dust them with a brush and then lightly wipe them off with a microfibre to get the remnants and this seems to work well for 19 out of 20 records.
However, when I come across a record that is particularly dusty I'll wipe it down with Pfan-Stat on a microfibre cloth. It looks clean but when i play it, a little dust ball will build up on the needle rather quickly. Then i need to clean the needle after each song. It seems to only happen when I clean with Pfan-Stat.
Am I doing something wrong? Is the Pfan-Stat just loosening the dust and i need to fully remove it some other way? Is there an inexpensive way to deep clean the records even though they 'look' clean? Would there be a benefit to this?
Thanks!!!
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- 14 posts total
@leemaze If you are willing to invest $199.00, just pick up a Record Doctor wet vacuum machine. You will not see dust on that needle ever again.http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RDV |
I've used the Nitty Gritty record cleaner with pretty good results. I eventually sold it because it was manual and replaced it with a Hanss record cleaner, which is the same product but with a different color being sold by Music Hall in the US. I later purchased an Ultrasonic V-8 cleaner sold by David Ratliff, which I thought was pretty revelatory. I think that cleaner cost me about 1400 bucks altogether at that time. Well, last year on a lark, I decided to try the Gem Dandy record cleaning system, which is only 169 bucks and involves the use of faucet water. My purpose was not to use it on new records but rather older records that needed more attention and because of that, I didn't care so much if they would become unplayable due to the treatment. Well, the Gem Dandy blew my mind. Beat the pants out of the Ultrasonic, which I now use only as a final rinse after the Gem Dandy. I'm not even sure that's necessary. The Hanss sits unused. I'd far recommend the Gem Dandy over any of the alternatives being mentioned here. It is that good, and counterintuitively so. I use it on *all* of my records now. |
2nd on the Record Doctor. Maybe not the last word on record cleaning, but works great for me. I use both the cleaning fluid that came with the machine and MoFi Super Record Wash (both one-step cleaners). Some day I will experiment with rinsing (and other solutions), but I will wait until I run out of the stuff I have now. |
I too use the Gem Dandy Hydraulic LP Cleaning System as part of my LP cleaning process. First I clean the record with the Gem Dandy system - using the Gem Dandy cleaning solution and then I wash it with tap water using the Jet Hose. I then put the record on my Pro-Ject VC-S Vacuum Record Cleaner and spray it with distilled water and brush it. Then I vacuum it dry. This procedure really does a great job!!! I have had/used an Okki Nokki, and an ultrasonic cleaning system. The Gem Dandy combined with the Pro-Ject VC-S produces the best results of all of the systems that I have tried. For info on the Gem Dandy system see - http://www.hifigem.com/hydraulic-lp-cleaning-apparatusMKII.html |
- 14 posts total